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Thursday, May 20, 2010

Treasure Chest Thursday: Dad's military personnel file, part one

I received my late dad's military personnel file in the mail last week. I knew it would have a lot of informative yet dry facts, but I also have found some surprising and fun things in it, so I thought I'd share a few pages at a time. It was worth the two-to-three-month wait for the price: free! (Contact the National Archives if you'd like to request your relative's records. Be sure to ask for the entire file if you are requesting records for family history purposes.)

Here are a few of the items (click on any photo in my blog to enlarge it):

Some of the most interesting things were in Dad's initial application to become a Naval Reserve aviation cadet: a handwritten letter from Dad, recommendation letters, the most handwriting of my Grandpa Hall's (on a form) that I've ever seen, and dad's high school transcript, not to mention his photo at age 20, looking a lot like my nephew (those ears! those curls!).

Dad graduated in 1940 and, knowing the draft was coming, thought he'd join the Navy after hearing about it from his brother Bob. Then he saw a newspaper ad saying high school graduates could apply for the Navy's aviation training, and that was it for him.

George Hall, December 2008, National Naval Aviation Museum, Pensacola, FL, with the ad that started it all. Photo courtesy of my sis.

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